Imitation is the highest form of flattery

I sometimes enjoy watching German tv shows, and again I say sometimes. Someone asked me what their tv shows are like and I stopped and thought they are exactly like ours, as a matter of fact they just take most of ours and dub them over in German. One that is exactly like ours is called “Deutschland sucht den Superstar”. This is German’s form of “American Idol”. Everything is the same and I mean everything. It is like watching it only in German. The only thing that is different is the guy who is supposed to be Randy is white and skinny, little disappointed in that one. They even have the German Simon who is mean and makes people cry, and the people who think they are good and try to make the show. They had one guy who looked like Paul from the wonder years try out. He was dressed like Michael Jackson and tried to perform the dance moves of Michael. To say the least the only thing he could do consistently like Michael Jackson was the crotch grab, very disturbing. After that they said no, he was mad, and the Ryan of the show interviewed him and yada yada yada. This made me think, what if we pursued following Christ like that. Trying to imitate him where it wouldn’t be a secret what I was imitating. I can’t say I accomplish that all the time, especially through hard times at work. When you are being told no by kids or told “you suck” by a kid because you wont let him play with something or stressed out because you have 21 kids in your room all being very loud and it’s a little crazy. Christ is easy to imitate when everything is going well, but when things go bad is when sometimes we fall. This is the beauty of the Gospel though, when I fail I know my identity is in Christ and he picks me up and shows me that he lavishes his grace upon me and assures us that life is a race and to lay aside the sin and be imitators of him because of our new identity in Him. Praise God for the Gospel, where I fail He has conquered through the cross and the empty tomb. What a great life we can experience as our identity is now found in Christ that we may imitate the person whom are identity is found.

Hello again!

Sorry I have not kept up with our blog lately, but I will post more frequent this coming year. For a while I was doing well with it and then it just kinda fell off my map. A quick review since Thanksgiving; went to Berlin, had Christmas and New Years here, my brother Chris came and went to Paris, went to Berlin again and had an opportunity to speak there and now school is starting back up. I forgot to mention that Julia now works at my building with me and likes it better, but on a daily basis we both have to ask for grace to get through the day, as our 2 weeks notice is always a “print” away. It’s really just living life in another country, while working with American kids who need parents, and seeing ministry first hand from a German perspective, while at the same time having an opportunity of a lifetime. I have had a great detox from American Christian subculture that really strips away a lot of things you can hide behind as a Christian, and this detox makes you look straight at God. I can’t say I pass many test with flying colors, as this last week after preaching on Joseph and his awful circumstances and his Gospel response he gave. I some what failed the test not loving work and having a unbiblical response to my emotions, as I was picking kids off the floor and separating others from hitting each other. We are entering month 5 soon and I am very glad to see where and what God has brought us through so far. We have made some very close friendships and continue to make new ones. Cant wait to see what happens in this next year and thanks again for continually encouraging us and praying for us.